


undergrowth

by DramaQkin



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Yachi/Yamaguchi, Confessions, Hanahaki Disease, Jealousy, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, tsukki's so big brained he overthinks himself into having hanahaki disease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22678774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaQkin/pseuds/DramaQkin
Summary: Kei thought he'd stamped down whatever hope he had growing in him all those years ago. But now that Hinata's returned, it springs back out of him, taking root and festering deep in his heart.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 3
Kudos: 144





	undergrowth

**Author's Note:**

> thank you, littlemisstpk, for showing me the wonderful world of hanahaki aus. Happy late valentine's y'all my other ongoing fic is having a great time in the drafts

Kei thought, a little smugly, that he was the first person to survive Hanahaki disease without confessing or having to undergo life saving surgery. 

He'd started coughing up flowers at the tail end of his third year in high school, hiding the bouquets as they spilled out of him. Kei already knew who they were for. 

"You need to see a doctor about that." Hinata had followed him during one of his frequent trips to the bathroom. Kei hastily flushed the pink camellias down the toilet. He stood up to his full height and towered over Hinata, giving him what he thought to be his nastiest glare. 

"Piss off," Kei hissed. The vines tickled the back of his throat tauntingly as he watched Hinata walk away. 

Flowers spilled forth from Kei's lips all throughout that summer. Then Hinata was on a plane to Brazil, and the flowers stopped coming. He honestly thought he survived Hanahaki relatively unscathed.

Bent over one of the stadium's toilets with a sizable pile of gardenias and forget-me-nots staring back at him, Kei could not believe he lived for so long. Yamaguchi's hair was shorter now, and he held himself more confidently, but the look of worry on his face as he stood over him was still so familiar to Kei. 

"Tsukki, how long?" 

"Two years, I think." Yamaguchi squawked at that, and Kei felt a twinge of guilt at making his friend worry after all these years. 

"How are you even alive?" 

"I am fine. I  _ was _ fine. It went away after we graduated but just. It just came back." _He_ came back, Kei thought. Kei expected Yamaguchi to panic. He didn't expect his friend to steel himself, didn't expect to see the look of determination in Yamaguchi's eyes outside the court. 

"You're telling him." It was the same voice Yamaguchi used when he was giving them orders during a game. Even while out of breath from the flowers that spilled out him, Kei found it in himself to laugh cruelly. 

"You're just assuming--"

"It's Hinata, right?" Kei paused. But of course. Yamaguchi was best friend since childhood, after all. There was no way he could hide anything from him. Yamaguchi took him by the arm and led him out of the bathroom before continuing. 

"Surgery to treat Hanahaki is expensive, and we're both broke college students." Yamaguchi paused.

"I.." Kei started. _Ridiculous_ , he thought. _Lame_. "I don't want to lose all this." His friend looked at him intently, like he was looking for an answer in Kei's confused face. Yamaguchi reached some sort of conclusion a moment later, and looked at Kei like he was sharing a great catastrophe of a secret.

"I've read that even unreciprocated confessions can cure it, but you'll be puking withered flowers until the plant dies completely." 

"Great. Can't wait." Kei said flatly. He didn't want to vomit withered flowers, but he also didn't want to die. He didn't want to tell Hinata anything. The flowers telling him he was unloved was one thing; hearing from Hinata directly that he would never love him back was another terribly awful thing. 

Kei didn't need the flowers scratching at his throat to know that Hinata would never return his feelings. Even as Hinata walked into the court, all muscle and broad shoulders and tan skin, Kei knew. He saw the way Hinata looked fondly at his new teammate, a setter with a cheeky grin and bleached hair. _Miya_ , his jersey read. Kei felt the all too familiar twisting and tightening in his lungs then, and ran to the bathroom.

-

A month after Hinata's first pro game Daichi organized a reunion party for the Karasuno Volleyball club. They all decided to meet at the restaurant they celebrated at when they first won against Shiratorizawa.

Kei hoped the dim lighting in the restaurant was enough to hide the flower petals as he coughed into his handkerchief. The tightness in his chest wouldn’t go away, not letting him forget how close he was to Hinata now. Kei could actually see how much he’d grown, how dazzling his smile still was, how much Kei missed him.

“That Atsumu has gotten so strong since we saw him last in high school.” Daichi said. The others around the table murmured in agreement.

“He has! I’m so glad I get to play with him.” Hinata chirped. Kei grit his teeth as he felt a familiar itch at the back of his throat. _Not now_. He sent a pleading look at Yamaguchi.

“Ahem!” Yamaguchi spoke over the din of the conversation. “I noticed that Hinata jumps so high now! You look like peak performance Asahi or Ushijima...” And the conversation went on without another mention of the setter. Kei was too busy coughing into his handkerchief to notice Hinata stealing glances at him.

-

Kei got up from their table for the umpteenth time that night, with Yachi and Yamaguchi following close behind him. 

"Uh, quick smoke break!" Yamaguchi practically yelled into Asahi's face. Kei couldn't even find it in himself to make fun of his friend for the flimsy excuse. 

The three of them were barely past the door when Kei doubled over, coughing up dainty cups of anemone. He was thankful Yachi had the presence of mind to shut the door behind them. 

"Tadashi, we need to bring him to a hospital _now_." Kei heard Yachi try to keep her voice down while talking. "I couldn't get Hinata alone and we might all leave soon. Tsukishima's condition is serious." 

"It'll work out," Yamaguchi replied, voice cool and unwavering. Kei quietly agreed with Yachi. He honestly felt like he was going to die. 

"If anything," Kei croaked out. "The flowers would make me a beautiful corpse." He sighed, glad for a moment respite from the flowers. His throat was scratchy, but at least at the moment it was easier to breathe. He straightened up.

“I need to be alone for a minute.”

“I’ll check on you if you’re gone too long.” Yamaguchi sent a worried look to Kei, but went back inside.

Kei leaned on the wall underneath a too bright streetlight. He took a lungful of air.

No matter how tightly the plant coiled around his lungs and heart, it couldn’t squash the little sliver of hope Kei allowed To grow in him. Hanahaki disease might really kill him this time, Kei thought with a humorless smile, just because he allowed himself to have a little hope as a treat.

There was a commotion back in the bar behind him, Hinata’s voice rising above the noise. Kei was already dreading the familiar creeping feeling coming up his throat. Hinata was going on about how someone should stop the awful habit right now, smoking is bad for the body, and isn’t Tsukki still an athlete?

Crap. Yamaguchi’s flimsy excuse finally came back to bite Kei in the ass.

Hinata barreled through the door, Daichi’s stern voice ringing from behind him. He walked over to Kei, looking like the world's most determined anti-smoking ambassador. Kei grimaced as he felt the flowers make their way up his throat. There was nothing he could do to hide it now. He could only turn away from Hinata as pretty little sprigs of gladiolus fell out of his mouth.

Hinata didn’t pause in disgust like Kei expected. He was in front Kei’s eyes in a flash, his face filled with worry.

“It’s been _years._ ”

“A most astute observation.” Kei managed to say. 

“Tsukki, this is serious!” Hinata made a move to steady him, grabbing his free arm. Kei marveled for a moment at how warm his hand was. "You need to tell whoever it is soon."

He kept his grip tight on Kei's arm. Kei opened his mouth to reply, only to have a single cyclamen fall out.

“Oh, truly, thank you for the idea I've never thought of.” Kei said, voice saccharine and condescending. He thought he could feel the plant thumping in his chest, almost like it was so overgrown that it replaced his heart. Hinata looked at him like he was being an unreasonable toddler. _Thump_ , his plant-heart went. _He doesn't even love you._

"Yeah, since you're so smart you let the hanahaki grow in you for two years." Hinata paused to tug Kei by the arm, dragging the taller man down to his level. "It's stupid."

"Stupid?" Kei said. He cursed himself for biting Hinata's bait. "Oh, but Mr. Little Giant, I'm only coughing up flowers because of you." 

Judging by Hinata's expression, he was just as shocked as Kei was. That was probably the most awkward confession ever, even by shoujo manga standards. He was so busy tunnel vision-ing into his life as a failed shoujo manga protagonist that he didn't notice Hinata's hands shift from his arm to his shirt collar, pulling Kei into a chaste kiss. 

"Tsukki," Hinata murmured when pulled away. "Breathe." 

When Kei finally got back to his senses, he took his first proper breath in weeks. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ofc here's the language of the flowers i chose haha
> 
> Pink Camellias - i long for you  
> Withered flowers - rejection  
> Gardenia - secret love  
> Forget-me-nots - true love, memories  
> Anemone - forsaken  
> Gladiolus - give me a break, im being sincere  
> Cyclamen - goodbye, resignation
> 
> we're gonna fill the tsukihina tag til theres 1000 fics in there woo


End file.
